Fico: Smer Has No One to Talk to about Political Programme

Bratislava, February 12 (TASR) – The Opposition’s election billboards show that its world works in a programme of poverty and hypocrisy, said Prime Minister Robert Fico at the international ‘Social Democracy in 21st Century – Without Cuts and Closer to People’ conference in Bratislava on Friday.

“A state for the people, a functioning state, a secure state. These politicians of the Right have always told us that the state should get out of the picture, everything must be deregulated and the market should manage all things. All of a sudden they’ve started putting the word ‘state’ into their election campaigns and are talking about its significance,” said Fico at the conference, which was organised by the ASA Institute.

Fico claimed that his party has no one to talk to about programme-related questions or to engage in a conflict with when it comes to programmes before the general election that is due to take place on March 5. He emphasised that unemployment, economic growth, fiscal consolidation and inflation don’t appear to be subjects of this year’s election campaigns.”These topics practically don’t exist, which is strange,” he added.

Smer-SD at its programme conference in Banska Bystrica on Saturday plans to announce that its aim, if elected to Parliament, will be a further deepening of the social state. Between 2016-20 Smer would like to increase the quality of life in Slovakia so that it reaches 85 percent of the EU average.